Chapter 41: Petals of Affection

Haruki returned to his apartment, the familiar quiet of the space feeling different tonight. He locked the door behind him, but the usual comfort of solitude didn't settle in. 

Instead, he found himself grinning, unable to suppress the smile that had been lingering on his face ever since he left Tsukiko's house.

He kicked off his shoes and made his way to the kitchen, barely paying attention as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. 

His thoughts were too tangled up in her—her teasing smirk, the warmth of her body pressed against his, the way she looked at him right before their lips met.

Haruki exhaled, running a hand through his hair, a grin creeping onto his face. Shit. He must've looked like an idiot, standing there in the middle of his kitchen, smiling to himself like some love-struck teenager.

He flopped onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling, still grinning like an idiot. He could feel her presence lingering in his mind, her laughter echoing in his ears. 

He'd finally let his guard down, finally let her see what she meant to him. And she—she hadn't pushed him away.

His phone buzzed, snapping him out of his thoughts.

His heart skipped a beat. Tsukiko?

He grabbed his phone, unlocking the screen with an almost embarrassing eagerness—only for his excitement to fizzle out in an instant.

Hey, don't forget about tomorrow, okay? 😘

His sister.

Haruki sighed and flopped back down on his pillow, deflated. Of course it's not her, he thought, running a hand through his hair. He had hoped, even for just a second, that it might be Tsukiko.

He leaned back against the pillows, staring at the ceiling once more. Couldn't help himself, his stupid grin crept back onto his face, mind drifting back to her until his thoughts were too tangled up in Tsukiko's words.

"I lost my baby."

His fingers curled into the sheets. That sentence had replayed in his mind more times than he wanted to admit.

"Husband, huh…?" he muttered, his voice laced with contempt.

He turned onto his side, his glare burning into the wall. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

Haruki let out a sharp scoff, raking a hand through his hair. "Fucking coward," he spat, the words dripping with disgust.

The next day, Tsukiko went about her work like usual, though there was a certain lightness to her steps. Despite the familiar busyness of the lab, she found herself glancing at her phone more than once. 

Haruki had messaged her early in the morning, starting with a playful, "Did you sleep well, Sweetie?"

It wasn't long before their conversation picked up, flowing naturally between teasing banter and surprisingly sweet moments.

She'd rolled her eyes at the nickname, but their conversation soon picked up, effortlessly flowing between teasing banter and surprisingly sweet exchanges. "Sweetie? Really? LOL."

When Haruki asked her about Saturday again, she finally agreed. "Alright, Saturday it is. But you better make it worth my time, Mr. Clingy."

Haruki's reply was immediate. "Oh, don't worry, I'll make it unforgettable."

The promise made her heart skip, though she rolled her eyes at his boldness, unable to stop the small smile tugging at her lips.

Tsukiko's day was busier than usual, filled with tying up loose ends now that the serum project was officially complete. Though the success was something to celebrate, it felt strange not working as a team anymore. Everyone had been reassigned to different tasks or projects, scattering them across different departments.

But as Tsukiko worked, she couldn't shake the image of Haruki's last message. She imagined him grinning like an idiot, probably with his usual laid-back confidence, and couldn't help but smile to herself.

Meanwhile, Haruki, in his own corner of the office, was indeed smiling like a fool. 

He was totally in his own world, typing away at his computer, his gaze occasionally flicking to his phone as he grinned at the messages he'd exchanged with Tsukiko.

His colleagues couldn't help but notice.

"Hey, has Haruki always been like this?" Akira muttered to Yumi, nodding in Haruki's direction.

Yumi glanced over and smirked. "Look at him. He hasn't stopped smiling since this morning."

Akira rolled his eyes. "Yeah, he looks like an idiot. What's he so happy about?"

Yumi shrugged. "No idea."

Akira shook his head. "I thought seeing him look like a zombie was enough, but this is freakier."

As they continued to watch Haruki, neither of them could suppress their curiosity about what had caused such a drastic shift in his behavior. 

They exchanged a few more quiet comments before turning their attention back to their own work, but neither could shake the feeling that something had changed in Haruki's world.

Back at Haruki's desk, he was still blissfully unaware of his colleagues' conversation. His smile hadn't faded, and his fingers absentmindedly tapped against the desk as he thought of Tsukiko.

In his mind, he was already looking forward to Saturday.